Rude Girl Records and its publishing arm, Rude Girl Pub., were unofficially formed January 2, 1992, as Janis began making plans to lease portions of her masters catalogue (then consisting of only seven titles) in Japan. Realizing she needed a name for her new independent record company and publishing company, Janis chose "Rude Girl." The story behind her choice is below.

From 1992 to the present, RGR has steadily grown, with its current ownership of Janis Ian masters up to twenty albums and DVD's overseas, and a slightly smaller number in North America. The Rude Girl label oversees the production of Janis' newer work, and in the case of older work, its re-mastering and the re-creation of the original artwork.

As usual, Janis was ahead of the curve in insisting that companies her label was affiliated with not only release the product exactly as it was presented to them, but include her label name and logo on every album and piece of advertising.
Janis and her business team investigated going into the record business "for real" by signing directly with a distributor, and doing everything else themselves. It was decided that would leave Janis virtually no time for creative endeavours. Instead, the master catalogue is leased worldwide through larger independent record companies Janis trusts.

We are proud of our history with our affiliated companies (Demon Music Group, Sony Records Japan, Beaver Music Hong Kong, Mine Music Ltd/Fujipacific-EMI Japan), and proud that when you see the Rude Girl name and logo on one of Janis' albums, you know its content and packaging have been supervised by Janis herself, and the quality is the highest possible.

In 1966, at the height of "Society's Child," Janis was taken to lunch by a reporter from Associated Press, who were doing a national story on Janis. The lunch was at fashionable New York theatre eatery Sardi's. Janis ordered London broil, and was served three small slices, along with two baby carrots and a few string beans. Looking from the menu price to the dish, Janis exclaimed "That's insane! My mother could feed the family for a week on this!!"

Afterwards, the AP lady complained to Janis' manager that she was "not a very nice girl, not nearly as nice as Shirley Temple. In fact, she's quite a rude girl!"
Janis has always enjoyed that story.